What's new in New Haven? Forest City knows

Forest City Enterprises Inc. is helping fuel a comeback in the long-struggling city of New Haven, Conn.
The Wall Street Journalreports that a venture between Forest City and Concord, Mass.-based developer Winstanley Enterprises “is about to break ground on a $50 million project to convert the old Winchester gun factory into a rental apartment building.” The 158-unit building is scheduled to open in the summer of 2014, says Abe Naparstek, vice president of Forest City Residential Group.
The project “follows a flurry of other developments in recent years that have breathed new life into a city that for decades was in decline despite being home to one of the world's top universities,” Yale. The newspaper says successes include a new Apple store in New Haven's downtown district and a 500-unit rental tower built on a former department store site that is more than 95% leased since opening in 2010.
It has been a tough road back for New Haven, and The Journal notes that the Winchester gun factory project “also stalled after Forest City took control of the site in 2008 because of lack of financing.” However, it was revived last summer after the state of Connecticut awarded the developers a $4 million grant for "affordable housing."
Forest City now is in talks with the city of New Haven for additional financial support, “because the brick building has been vacant for decades and asbestos and rehabilitation work will be required,” The Journal reports.
"It's millions of dollars of extraordinary costs," Mr. Naparstek tells the newspaper. "The only reason why it's possible is that the state of Connecticut and the city of New Haven are able to help support it to make it happen."
Forest City now has two Connecticut projects under way; the other is in Stratford. Units at the New Haven property “will include studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, will monthly rent of around $1,800 for a one-bedroom apartment,” The Journal reports. The developers have the option to build an additional 200 units in the next phase.

This and that

The big cheeses: Forbes.com periodically runs get-to-know them profiles of billionaires, and the latest installment is about the Epprecht family, which runs Great Lakes Cheese in Hiram.
Patriarch Hans Epprecht immigrated to Cleveland from Switzerland in 1948. After serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, he began work at Brewster Cheese in Ohio. In 1958, he left to start his own company. He borrowed $5,000 on a life insurance policy and began delivering cheese to local stores and bodegas on Cleveland's East Side.
“Throughout the decades, with the help of his children, John and Kurt Epprecht and Heidi Eller, he transformed what was an Ohio-based enterprise into a national player, supplying cheese to retailers and the food service industry,” Forbes.com notes. (It has plants in Ohio, New York, Wisconsin and Utah; McDonald's is a big customer.)
Great Lakes Cheese now boasts annual revenues of $2.3 billion, Ms. Eller confirms to Forbes.com. Employees, of which there are about 2,200, own about 20% of the company; the rest is owned by the Epprecht family. Forbes.com estimates the company is worth roughly $2.6 billion, meaning the Epprecht family “lays claim to a cheese fortune worth just over $2 billion.”
“The Epprechts are extremely private,” according to the website. “Eller took over for Hans as chairman of the company two years ago. John and Kurt Epprecht serve as vice presidents, Eller said. Hans, now 82, no longer has ownership of the company, Eller said. She provided no further comment on the company's ownership — leaving to question how exactly the fortune is divided between Hans' children.”
Spanning the globe:Paul Sracic, professor and chairman of the Department of Political Science and Rigelhaupt Pre-Law Center at Youngstown State University, argues in a Bloomberg opinion piece that President Barack Obama could “give a positive jolt to U.S. and international markets” with a simple declaration: “Obama could announce that he fully supports Japan joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations.”
The Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multinational free-trade agreement started by Brunei, Chile, Singapore and New Zealand a decade ago, now covers 11 economies that together conduct more than $1 trillion of trade each year, Prof. Sracic notes. The Obama administration notified Congress in late 2009 that it would join the talks.
Japan, the third-largest economy in the world and the only Asian nation whose economy rivals China, hasn't yet formally asked or been invited to join the TPP, Prof. Sracic writes.
If the president, during his State of the Union address, were to invite Japan to become part of the TPP negotiations, some significant global trade issues would “have a clear forum in which to be discussed,” he concludes.
At your service: A USA Todayfeature story about the importance of service in the restaurant experience includes a Zagat list of the top restaurants for service in 25 U.S. cities, including three in Ohio.
In Cleveland, Zagat says, you'll find the best service at Giovanni's Ristorante.
“This Beachwood classic boasts a black-tie staff serving exquisite Tuscan food and wine with unparalleled care amid serene, handsome surroundings,” the restaurant guide says.
When you're in Cincinnati, the top service choice is Orchids at Palm Court, an “art deco stunner in the historic Hilton Netherland Plaza.” Columbus' top pick for service is Refectory, a 19th century former church “with gleaming stained-glass windows and soaring rafter beams.”
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